MMA News

Askren Takes Home Submission Win In OneFC Debut

ONE Fighting Championship (ONE FC), Asia’s largest Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) organization with a 90% market share, impressed the sold-out crowd in attendance at the iconic Singapore Indoor Stadium with another night of world-class mixed martial arts action. In the main event of the evening, Ben Askren proved once again why he is considered the best welterweight in the world by submitting Bakhtiyar Abbasov and extending his undefeated professional mixed martial arts record to thirteen wins.

Ben Askren made a successful ONE FC debut by overcoming Azerbaijan’s Bakhtiyar Abbasov. The Azerbaijani began the bout impressively by taking Askren down, but Askren’s wrestling pedigree shone through. He reversed the position from the bottom and dominated the rest of the round by holding a hapless Abbasov down, and finished the bout with an arm-triangle submission. In his post-fight victory, Askren called out current ONE FC Welterweight World Champion Nobutatsu Suzuki to defend his belt in their next scheduled bout.

Vincent Latoel of the Netherlands moved up the lightweight rankings by defeating rising star Eddie Ng in the co-main event. Latoel caught Eddie Ng moving forward with a right punch that dropped Ng and the referee jumped in to call a stop to the bout.

Honorio Banario and Jadambaa Naratungalag put on a striking exhibition that had the crowd cheering their every move. Banario took Jadambaa down briefly and also landed an impressive wushu side kick to close out the first round. After a brief takedown exchange, the pair was happy to spend the rest of the second round trading strikes in a high-octane second round. The tactical battle continued into the third round as each fighter had their moments, and Jadambaa closed the round with a successful takedown attempt. All three judges gave the bout to Jadambaa as the fans voiced their approval.

Caros Fodor proved once again why he is considered one of the best lightweights in ONE FC by finishing Willy Ni of the Netherlands. Ni dived on a guillotine choke attempt almost immediately from the opening bell, but Fodor survived the early scare and began to rain down shots from inside Ni’s guard. Fodor moved to side control and finished the bout with a kimura that forced Ni to tap out.

Major Overall surprised the crowd by knocking out Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and the previously undefeated Bruno Pucci. Pucci’s grappling prowess was on display early as he had Overall in danger with both a body triangle and a mounted position, but Overall managed to escape. The American then landed a left hook that dropped Pucci and followed it up with a kick to the head that finished the fight.

The heavyweight clash between standouts Chi Lewis Parry and Alain Ngalani was cut short when a knee from Parry in the clinch inadvertently struck Ngalani in the groin. Ngalani was unable to recover within the stipulated time limit and the bout was declared a no-contest.

Radeem Rahman kicked off the main card by becoming the only Singaporean to notch two wins in the ONE FC cage. His opponent, Malaysia’s Raymond Tan, won the early striking exchanges, knocking Rahman down twice in the first round. Rahman resiliently fought back, taking Tan down early in the second round. Rahman never gave the Malaysian an opportunity to get back to his feet, and finished the fight with a barrage of strikes from mount. Referee Yuji Shimada jumped in to stop the bout as the Singapore crowd erupted in cheers.

Nik Harris avenged an earlier loss in his career by defeating Brad Robinson via split decision. After a brief exchange in the clinch, Harris began to find his striking range in the first round. Robinson had more success in the second round with a series of well-timed strikes, including an elbow that appeared to rock Harris. Harris was effective in stopping Robinson’s takedowns in the third rounds, landing more strikes in the process. The bout was tightly contested throughout but it was Harris who won the contest on two of the three judges’ scorecards, awarding him a split decision victory.

Casey Suire kicked off ONE FC: HONOR & GLORY with an impressive display of both striking and grappling. The American knocked Langdown down with a crisp left hook. He then pounced on top of Langdown, and patiently advanced his position. He eventually succeeded in securing the Singaporean’s back and finished the fight with a rear naked choke less than four minutes into the first round.

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